France sends frigate to mark New Zealand First World War centenary

French naval frigate FNS Vendemiaire and a group of French lawmakers will arrive in Wellington this week to participate in centenary commemorations of the First World War.

The French Embassy in New Zealand said Tuesday that the warship, which had been in Vanuatu helping with Cyclone Pam relief efforts, would arrive Wednesday.

The crew would attend a dawn service parade on official duty alongside New Zealand Defence Force troops to mark the centenary of the ill-fated Gallipoli landings in the campaign against the Ottoman Empire, said an embassy statement.

The ceremony will be held on April 25, or Anzac (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) Day, which is a public holiday in Australia and New Zealand.

Commander Herv Siret would also attend four official ceremonies in Wellington on Anzac Day.

Also participating in Anzac Day commemorations would be a delegation of French senators led by Jean-Marie Vanlerenberghe, president of the inter-parliamentary France-New Zealand Friendship group and a delegation from the French city of Arras, led by Mayor Frdric Leturque.

Arras was the setting for a major battle in 1916 during which New Zealand tunnelers built a massive complex of tunnels under the German lines. Endi